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Pokemon Card unbox

Don's Pinball Podcast Live Streams (YouTube)·video·50m 20s·analyzed·Feb 19, 2026
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.030

TL;DR

Don unboxes Pokemon cards and discusses Pokemon pinball acquisition and design concepts.

Summary

Don from Don's Pinball Podcast streams a casual unboxing of Pokemon trading card booster packs purchased from Family Dollar, discussing his recent acquisition of a Pokemon pinball machine (Stern) and speculating about potential game design features. The stream includes tangential discussions about pinball industry topics, his upcoming job move to Georgia near Pinball Palace, and various pop culture references.

Key Claims

  • A limited edition Pokemon pinball machine can be scored for $13,000, and there was an offer of $22,000 from a collector for one.

    medium confidence · Don telling Family Dollar employee about Pokemon pinball pricing

  • Dutch Pinball has made one game in 10 years but a competitor could start licensing Back to the Future today and beat them to market with a superior game.

    medium confidence · Don's speculation on licensing and market competition in pinball industry

  • Don is relocating to Georgia, working at or near Pinball Palace, after completing a 90-day contract at current location in Maine.

    high confidence · Don discussing his job transition and future location plans during stream

  • Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly in Back to the Future but was replaced by Michael J. Fox.

    high confidence · Don referencing film trivia about Back to the Future production

  • Pokemon booster packs at Family Dollar cost $5 each; same packs at Canadian Walmart were $8 CAD.

    high confidence · Don comparing prices while unboxing Pokemon cards

Notable Quotes

  • “I told the guy at the Family Dollar, I was like, 'Do you know that a Pokemon pinball machine just came out? And do you know that a limited edition one, you can score one for $13,000? And did you also also know had an offer for $22,000 from a collector for it already?'”

    Don@ 4:49 — Establishes Pokemon pinball pricing and market demand

  • “I think a company could start like today, February 18th, negotiate a license with Back to the Future, create the game, get the game out, and still beat Dutch Pinball to market.”

    Don@ 25:49 — Commentary on licensing speed and competitive advantages in pinball manufacturing

  • “I'm gonna take this messed up Diglett and we're going to put him in a plastic thing... I got a foiled Diglett. So, I was excited. I'm like, 'Oh, sweet. I'm gonna leave these on my table so they don't get messed up.' And then I didn't realize like my Diet Coke overnight was gonna like leak water and just ruin my Diglett.”

    Don@ 21:59 — Humorous personal anecdote about card care and preservation

  • “If I don't hang on to this LE for good, get it sold, pick up a premium down the road, I could throw custom graphics on it... since the premiums will be available forever.”

    Don@ 6:02 — Reveals Don's strategy for Pokemon LE vs Premium acquisition and customization

  • “I think I could still do that. Like if I don't hang on to this LE for good, get it sold, pick up a premium down the road, I could throw custom graphics on it. I mean Elvira had been out for years before I finally got mine and I got a basic energy card.”

    Don@ 6:08 — Shows Don's experience with limited edition/Premium pricing dynamics and long-term collecting strategy

Entities

DonpersonStern PinballcompanyDutch PinballcompanyPinball PalacevenueAmerican PinballcompanySpooky PinballcompanyMichael J. FoxpersonEric StoltzpersonOrbital Albertperson

Signals

  • ?

    product_strategy: Don articulates a collector strategy of acquiring LE for potential resale and later purchasing Premium with custom graphics/modifications, leveraging premium availability over time

    high · Don explicitly states he could sell LE, then acquire Premium later and customize it with foil decals, referencing past experience with Elvira

  • $

    market_signal: Pokemon LE pinball machine pricing reported at $13,000 base with collector interest at $22,000; indicates strong secondary market demand premium

    medium · Don mentions $13,000 LE price and $22,000 collector offer during conversation with Family Dollar employee

  • ?

    collector_signal: Don's spontaneous purchases of Pokemon booster packs ($5 Family Dollar, $8 CAD Walmart) and investment in card protectors suggest FOMO-driven collecting behavior tied to Pokemon pinball machine hype

    high · Don admits he didn't plan to buy Pokemon cards initially but got swept up in the moment after learning about Pokemon pinball; purchased multiple packs and protective cases

  • ?

    industry_signal: Don speculates that licensing deals in pinball are non-exclusive and a new entrant could negotiate, design, and release a Back to the Future pinball faster than Dutch Pinball despite their head start

    medium · Don argues a company starting Feb 18 could beat Dutch Pinball to market by negotiating license, designing with compelling mechanics, and executing faster

  • ?

    personnel_signal: Don transitioning from Maine job to Georgia-based role at or near Pinball Palace; indicates ongoing career movement within adjacent pinball industry ecosystem

Topics

Pokemon trading card unboxingprimaryPokemon pinball machine (Stern) acquisition and pricingprimaryLimited edition vs Premium pinball strategysecondaryPinball machine design concepts (Back to the Future example)secondaryLicensing and competition in pinball manufacturingsecondaryDon's job transition and relocation to GeorgiasecondaryCard preservation and storagementionedPinball game customization with foil decalsmentioned

Sentiment

neutral(0)

Transcript

youtube_auto_sub · $0.000

Tell you what, tell you what. Back in the studio booth, why don't you go ahead and just hit just stream. Let's just go. Forget the intro music. Forget the Sunday live stream. Typical intro bonanza we're doing. Cuz right now, the only thing I'm interested in is the Dons Pinball Podcast card game showdown live stream that's happening right now from the apartment. Right, man. Hearing some some weird echo here. We'll see if people show up. Cabin's here. Dude, dope. All right. So, here was the whole nidus for this. Did you hear about this Pokemon pinball machine that just came out, everybody? Of course you did. So, me, I'm diving in head first. What's up, cause? Boom. Look at these. I went to the Family Dollar, right? I went to Family Dollar and I got a bunch of these things, booster packs, whatever they are. They're $5 each. I don't know if they're good. I know nothing about these. I told them they were for my kid at home. So, apologies. Um, but I thought, you know, I got these things. I got some card protectors. I figure if I'm getting this Pokemon pinball machine, what I should probably do is get like one of the cards to put on the apron, right? So, my my $30,000 gold Charizard has to be inside this. That's a thing, right? I know nothing about these things other than I know there's grown men that look a lot like me that hang out at Target on the days that these come out and get restocked and they push little old ladies out of the way, step on children and like they buy all these and they take them home. So I bought a pack of these like last week and I left them on the coffee table and I left some beverages out and when I came back the next day everything was wet and they were stuck to the table. So those completely got destroyed. So, I hope they weren't worth money. So, um I'm in this uh far northern town in rural Maine and their Family Dollar has like stacks of these things for five bucks each. Again, I don't know if it's a good price. I don't know if it's not. I went to Walmart in Canada and they were sold out of most of them, but I think they had some of these. They were $8 Canadian. So, I figured why not start with these Scarlet and Violet Surging Spark uh adventure packs or whatever. What the heck? Looks like this is some kind of like zombie palm tree thing on this cover. I don't know if you can see that. Okay. Um but yeah, we'll just uh we'll tear it open. I don't know if there's a way to do this. Like they're in these these paper packages and like the back of this will be the the satisfying part. I guess the back just rips open. Orbital Albert, help me out. How am I supposed to open these? Is there a more satisfying way to do this? It's just like a little little paper job there. I don't know. I'm not doing the best camera work here. But then you get uh this little It's a foil pack. Look at that. I'll sell this for $3,200 right now. Unopened, new in box. They're all grade 10. They're PSA, I'm sure. To me, PSA means prostate specific antigen. So, oh, let me get the uh let me get the comments up if people want to read them and we'll uh we'll turn the crazy AI dawn off. All right, we don't have that many comments anyway. Is there gum inside? I wish I was gum inside. What's up, Monica? We're opening I'm spending I'm spending our family's money on these things. On these things? I went to the Family Dollar and we're doing an unboxing again. I don't know if there's a good way to open these. Should I use my teeth? Should I not use my teeth? God, like they don't tear easy. All right, I got it. I had to use my teeth on these things. All right, so right off the bat, here's what we got. Oh, is this worth anything? Is this worth $300? Is it worth $300? Oh, if I show this, you can redeem my points. I don't know what we're redeeming the points for. Let's see what we got. I don't even know what this is. That's a Zanus. Whatever Zangus is. We got an Ocarino. No idea what this is. So, typically in these packs, like the last card will be a little foil kind of one. Uh, I don't know what a scatterbug is. I don't know what a watch roll is, but I got it. I got it. I got a watch roll. Uh, whoa, we got a a zern. That looks like a freaking patronis from Harry Potter right there. So, I got a Harry Potter patronis. Don't know how that got in. Got a terra orb. If you need a terra orb. I think this is PSA at least 9.8. Imagine like like doing Pokemon card content. How wild people do that. All right, here's a Flapple. And I I swear they're making stuff up at this point. Is a Flapple gonna be in the Stern Lee game? I told the guy at the Family Dollar, I was like, "Do you know that a Pokemon pinball machine just came out? And do you know that a limited edition one, you can score one for $13,000? And did you also also know had an offer for $22,000 from a collector for it already? What? What? All right. So, here. So, there's like two foils and like a special one. So, here's one of the foils or whatever. It's a a moralol. I don't know what a moral is. I don't know if it's focusing or not, but we got that one. What's a fooy cocoa? Dude, what the hell are these animals? I don't remember any of these from my Game Boy game. Get a Ken Griffy Jr. I wish I got a Rabska as like the foily one. I don't know what a Rabska is, but like see the edge like dude, what if the decals on the LE look like that? Like just around the edge, man, or something. I don't know. I really wanted foil art. If I got a premium, I was going to pay an artist to come up with like, I don't know, Charizard or something. And I was going to have it printed on foil just like I redid that Alvara premium. and I just would have slapped on new decals so I got that boil effect which listen since the premiums will be available forever. I think I could still do that. Like if I don't hang on to this LE for good, get it sold, pick up a premium down the road, I could throw custom graphics on it. I mean Elvivra had been out for years before I finally got mine and I got a basic energy card. All right. So not not great, I don't think. Not great, but like it'd be cool to have something like interesting or like desirable to throw on your apron, I think, at least. Right. Let's do another one of these. Is there like There's not like a a zip tie or something to to open this thing up. Pokemon. Well, we already did one of the mutant tree ones. Let's do one of these. I like these. Look at Look at Pikachu, dude. He's got like a crown on him. Like, that's kind of cool. I want a card that looks like that now. Like, I get that the limited edition artist proofs or whatever go for $16 million when you're money laundering like people online, but like aren't there bootleg Pokemon cards? Like, if I want to get a foil Charizard, can I just teeu one that looks like Yeah, you know, it's bootleg, but so what? I'm just throwing it on my stupid thing, right? I should probably get a knife. Whoop. Okay, that must be the way to open it. Just flip it and grip it out. All right, so we got this one. Surging sparks. It's got some like legendary creature on there. I think one of the cards I had that got ruined the other day was one of these guys. It wasn't a foil one, though. It was just regular. Should we go back for the teeth? They should make this like a packet of chips, man. Maybe we'll try from the bottom. No, I don't want to bend the cards. So, I have all my tools at home. I have letter openers, all kinds of stuff. I thought Stern might implement the dispensers. I think that's a good idea. I guess uh you know, they got to get okay from Pokemon Company. I guess I just put have a third party come up with uh like you got dollar bill acceptors have like card dispensers and you can just, you know, people can decide what to put on there. You know, another one of these guys with points on it. All right. Whoa, I like this one. What is this? A Larvesta. Look at this guy. He's like He's like on He's like on that fire planet that Darth Vader fell into the lava pit on when he was dueling with Obi-Wan. It's kind of cool. Kind of cool guy. The lighting here is terrible. Sorry about the focus. Main key. Damn. I think that's made up. Gross. Don't you have like a kitchen knife? This video needs more ASMR. Oh, Mark. All right, let's get some some ASMR as we as we tear into it. Oh, I see I see an execute coming out. Very yummy. Yummy. All right, execute is here. I kind of dig this card. Diglett. I actually got like a a foil Diglett. It got ruined, too. But like this Execute, it's like a bunch of eggs. I guess it's a Pokemon. Is it plant type or is it egg type? Precocious evolution. The four vertical card dispensers on raw thrills Minecraft won't fit in the front of a pinball machine. Damn it. Damn it. I'm putting an open pack in my machine. That's the way of them. Uh, all right. John Tombberlin. I had, and I shared this story. I had an unscratched lottery ticket in the roof of my car for like a year. It only cost me a dollar. Drove my friends nuts because they had no idea what it was. And the fact that I just bought something for a dollar that had like unknown value was cool to me. It's just a discord with don some odd manifesto. Execute is going on the apron unless I find something better. I like that. Swabadoo. Swabloo. It's a swallow. Boring. Bxish. I got some fish. I got some fish. That's great. What's a meddling memo? All right. I got I got this. This Pokemon is office material. The heck meddling memo? Your opponent counts the cards in their hand, shuffles those cards, and puts them on the bottom of their deck. If they do, they draw that many cards. What? I guess this is actually a game, too. I have no idea how this thing is played. All right. Did we get to the good ones yet? No. Here's an Appleton. It looks like Appleton is a city in Wisconsin where Lumberjack Johnny's is. And this is an Appleton. Okay. So, so Appleton, Wisconsin, you're on notice. This is your Pokemon, man. I want to see this guy all over town. All right. Uh, Feebas. Okay, we got a little foil fish. This one's very fish themed. I do like that foil. All right. Whatever put on the apron, I want it to be a foil. And that's kind of cool. That's kind of cool. Holler if these are worth $20,000. What's a Pamzer? Cute guys. I like the foil though, dude. Oh, man. I just something with foil. Combustion. It just says it just says combustion. Is that like rules for the game? Do you light the game on fire if you pull this card? Is this like playing Uno? All right, I got a basic energy fire, right? This is like the best card in the set here. Palia Space Crush. What the flip is this thing? I'm gonna show it to you. But she's shiny. It's some kind of like alien creature. If you can you can focus in up on that. My cheap webcam that I'm using can focus It's trying. It's trying. All right. Well, whatever. Cause I heard the same rumor about the topper. I think it's going to be cool. So, here's my two fancy ones I've gotten so far. Um I think I still think I want to get a Teimu. I'll pay $10 for like a knockoff of something really cool. All right, let's see if I've learned anything. We'll go back to this one. When are we back in good old Benton, Wisconsin? Wednesday. No, Wednesday. Today's Wednesday. Saturday. Saturday it's happening. We're ripping open. Oh, we need to slowly tear tear the package open. There we go. Where Gander go? Open wide. Open wide package. Yes. Let me rip you from the other side. Oh. Oh, she's tearing. This is going to require sutures. All right. Popped it. We popped it. There we go. More shining sparks. Do you really want ASMR? Because I think I'm kind of good at it. All right, fish topper. I I already told my distributor, dude, when that topper's ready, just send it. Just send it. How many more hours to complete your Beetlejuice? Probably, honestly, uninterrupted. Five hours. I think I could have it done in five hours. Help us stop ASMR. All right, here we go. What do we got? Oh, what is that, dude? Dude, I'm happy. I got a Snorlax. I know Snorlax. So, there are original 150s in here. Oh, dude. Did I get a duplicate? All right. I got a Snorlax. That's going in the keep pile. Snorlax is rad. Rufflet. Don't know what is this one. What's a This Pokemon is called Trap Itch, which sounds like um Jock Itch, right? What is it called? Trap itch. Is this Hedgewig and the Angry Inch? I like all these cards actually. This is pretty cool. Call for family. Search your deck for up to two basic Pokemon and put them on your bench, then shuffle your deck. I have no idea how to play this game, but I've got a trap inch and it's an angry trap inch. I'm gonna put that in the keep pile. Rel. I don't even know what I'm looking at. This looks like a cockroach with a face on its butt. I don't know. I don't know what this Pokemon is. I don't know what it does. Rel. There's a blue Pikachu. Is this Easter themed? There's a blue Pikachu here. Blue Pikachu. What's Gravity Mountain? If you want to see Gravity Mountain, here you go. Oh, this next one's fun. This next the Gravity Mountain. What does Gravity Mountain do? Each stage two Pokemon don't care. Um, I got I think I got a Exeu Exeggutor. Look, I got a Exeutor. Oh, exeutor and Execute. I think they I think they are related. That's kind of cool. I'm g collect all three and then I'll uh trade them into McDonald's and see if I get a sandwich. Oh, dude. What kind of crap is this? All right, I got a Zang goose. Right, if you want to have a Zang goose. It's a little foily foily Zang goose. Another apple themed one. Little apple Pokemon we're getting. And then um I got another Pakalikica who was a a singer or dancer for the Cotton Mouth Kings. This this Pakalikica Palia, sorry. I got two of them. I got I got double. So I can trade with my friends now. Someone look this up. Is this money? Donnie hitting Dollywood when the new ride opens. Ask Monica, but probably. All right, we got one more of these. This cost me $20. And I don't know if that was worth it, but here we are all the same. Breaking her open. Oh, satisfying. Pulling it out. Oh, dude. I'm a pro now. I'm a pro. And I've made a mess on my table. It's not mine. Surging sparks. Whatever. Sparks. So, Dollywood's got a sweet ass looking indoor. It's a boat ride, right? It looks amazing. Oh, and Mark, fix my teeth. All right, no more ASMR. We're just going to rip this guy open. All right, PSA 10. PSA 10. Let's go. All right, spray fluid. Dude, they're making stuff up at this. Well, I mean, they're all made up. But here's a strudel. And I love that name. Shrudel. Shrudel. Shrudel. 20 bucks. Key. Cleon. It looks like a look like a gecko. It's like a gecko. That's cool. I got another trap. Cryon Gall. What is this? It's like a frozen Pokemon. I got a dragon elixir. What's a Zern? Oh, it's another one of them. from uh this from like Avatar. This from the the the world of Pandora right here. Pacimeian. I don't like this guy. Looks too much. It's like a grandpa Zubumafu. All right, we're down to the last three. Now we get some foils. We got this guy. Vivvilion. A Vavillion. Great. Vavillion. And a Donopon. What is this crap? I want a I want a foil Diglett. How many of these do I have to buy to get a foil Diglett? Whoa. What's a confagrius? Look at What is this? Some kind of like uh jizz bucket of black ink. I don't understand this stuff, man. What did I get besides? All right, I spent $20 and I have a mess on my table. But I got this guy. Look at how foily he is. What's my favorite one? I like the apple ones. I like that they got the egg ones. They aren't foil, though. I guess I want to put a foil card. I think I'll still stick with uh I'll reach out to Orbital Albert. I'll be like, "Brother, I need to have like some kind of Pokemon card that a Pokemon card person would say like, "Whoa, that's awesome." And like, "Sell me that." I bought this from Amazon. I had it delivered. Maybe I was uh maybe I was overly hopeful. But what this should be is a 10ack of plastic card protectors. Um, you know, because if if I'm putting this on the apron, right? I figured I would uh This box is garbage. I figured what I would do is get like an a plastic case for one of these things. What's like the most useless Pokemon card? I want that and put that on my apron. $13,000 game. I want a I want a card that you can't even give away. I got cards. What do you want? Trash can ninja. What's a good card? These are supposed to be magnetic plastic top loading. Oh, okay. That's cool. All right. So, let's see. What are we putting in here? Uh, Donovan. Let's put that guy in there. Let's stick him in there just to try this out. Whoa. Careful. Oh, they're magnetic. That's cool. Nope. I don't got it lined up right. Is it supposed to be that way? I guess the magnet will only go one way. I didn't see how I pulled this out. Oh, there we go. There we go. It's encased in plastic. Very good. Very good. All right. So, I got 10 of these things because I figured, well, there surely there would be enough great cards in here that I can put them all on these things. I guess I still can, but um yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if there's any winners in here, right? What do you guys think? There's Pokemon waifu cards. Oh, rad dude. Sell Albert all your cards. I'll sell them. I wonder if I'll get my 20 bucks back if I sell all these cards. Um, yeah. So, the Pokemon waifuss. So, I was looking around. Um, I'm trying to learn more about Pokemon now. I watched a Pokemon episode. Um, you know, I've seen them on TV before, but like I haven't watched one in a while. I watched the one with the Squirtle Squad today. It was pretty funny. So, like, you know, that was cool. I get it. I guess Squirtle Squad is going to be in the game. I want to play the game. Just to hear like the call outs and the Pikachu call outs are like freaking crazy. So, if you don't like Pokemon and you keep hearing the the Pikachu call outs can drive people crazy. I have a Pokemon card encased in freaking plastic and it's worth about 30 cents probably. It's named Donafen, so I like that. That's like my soul Pokemon because it's got Dawn in it. Whatever. So, that's cool. Apocalypsea, Xernius, Confugorus, the Trap the Rabska. I did get a Diglett and the other cards that got ruined. Oh, maybe I can put them in a plastic case. Let me grab them. Let me show you what I got in my uh original batch. Like I just did this on a whim, you know, when the game came out and then like I wasn't even getting an LE and I'm like, damn it, why' I buy these stupid Pokemon cards? But like you could tell like some of them got some of them got wrecked, son. There's a PSA five. And the thing it sucks is like, oh dude, it was a foiled Diglett, too. It was a foil Diglett and I set on the table and I had a Diet Coke there and it condensated and then just like invaded my Pokemon cards. You know what though? I'm gonna take this messed up Diglett and we're going to put him in a plastic thing. Oh, dude. I agree. I had so many garbage pail kids. I freaking love those. Go to TCG Player, type in your favorite Pokemon and all will show up. Oh, okay. Albert's got a I'm on Albert's uh Patreon. How many months do I need to be on the Patreon, Albert, until you send me a Pokemon card? That's notable. I think the way I think I should put it in that way. Sorry, I'm trying to do that camera. There we go. Dude, it's so messed up. Freaking All right, I got a foiled Diglett. So, I was excited. I'm like, "Oh, sweet. I'm gonna leave these on my table so they don't get messed up." And then I didn't realize like I my Diet Coke overnight was gonna like leak water and just ruin my Diglett. Whoa. Okay. Um, the rest of the ones that I got in that original pack, those are cool, but like this moral or whatever, these are all kind of ruined. This Taros, whatever. Look at this. It's like been in like a kid's backpack. This is why the the pristine cards are worth money because people like me do this stuff. Get Michael to make you a Pokemon card. That's cool. Caps a kid. Chill teaser toy. Look at that freaking eggplant. That's a marital aid. There's no waifuss. Here's a Ldios if anybody wants it. Basic energy. A helopile. I'm making this stuff up. Uh sigly. That's cool. Whatever. So, those are whatever. But the cool ones, like I thought I got a lot of cool draws in this one. This Skeleadurge looks kind of cool, right? It didn't get very water damage. So maybe I'll throw that one in one of the cases. But this one, this megaton blower. Look at this. Look at Look at like it's a holographic, man. See little little squares and stuff on there. Like I wish they were all like that. That's rad. I love this one. I don't This one's not It's worth like 40 cents. I looked it up. It's a megaton blow. It's a fan. It's not even a Pokemon. It's just like somebody's somebody's shop fan, right? But it's on that foil. Dude, imagine if the LE was printed on paper that had those foil accents like that. I'm trying to show it there. Like, see that? Like, what if the game you walked by and it was like, you tell me that wouldn't look cool. I need my bike to sound like a Harley-Davidson. Right. So, in three years, once you are vested, Albert will send you something sweet. Oh, yeah. I get it. You got to You got to put in the time. You got to put in the tank. So, I don't care that it's a little messed up. It's not torn at least. So, I'm going to take this one. I'll put it in one of my plastic things. I got 10 of these plastic, guys. Don't be surprised if you buy something from me and you end up getting a Pokemon card because I have no idea what I'm going to do with these, dude. Do a AI Dawn Pokemon card and give them away at shows and put them on Pokemon games in the wild. That's a great idea, actually. All right, I'll talk to Michael. Um, that'd be a fun shirt. Like do do a Don Spinball podcast Pokemon card. Maybe he'll do that. Oh, I could get it done as stickers, too, with like holographic. Yeah, that's a good idea. All right, I'll hit up Michael. He probably needs another 300 bucks, but um I want to make sure the guy's getting work. Well, this is a giant mess that I created. Uh, what do you guys want to talk about? You want to talk about Melvin over at So I think American Pinball should change its name to uh American Pinball X, APX, you know, like DPX, right? It was Melvin's deal. So crazy. Dutch Pinball is a company that's made one game in 10 years. It was pretty good. But I've heard um that licenses aren't exclusive either. like um like a company that's uh owns their license and they're licensing out for products, they don't do it on an exclusive basis, you know, they're not going to like let a pinball m machine company pay them money and then uh American pinball and then um you know, not let anybody else give them money for that license, right? I think just out of courtesy and probably good marketing sense, other pinball companies don't jump in when they know another company has a license already. However, um I think a company could start like today, February 18th, negotiate a license with Back to the Future, create the game, get the game out, and still beat Dutch Pinball to market. And if you put in some compelling mechanisms, um you can probably be a better game. Imagine this, right? Uh the game can take place in multiple different time zones or time periods. You've got modern day 1985, you've got 1955, and then you've got the 2010 or whatever, whatever when they went to the future, 2055, whatever it was. And so you charge up your Delorean, and when you get enough plutonium, you can hit a shot and the ball will ricochet like around a wire form or something around the whole playfield, and then it'll lock in the back and all of a sudden the playfield will erupt with like bright red LEDs. Boom. boom, like a fire stream straight towards you as if like, you know, the the car was like building up to 88 miles an hour and then boom, flux capacitor hits, the whole playfield lights up with red, you know, with the the flaming tire tracks like right at you and then all of a sudden the ball releases and you're in that different time zone and then maybe the playfield changes, you know, kind of like a venomish thing, you know, where um, you know, the clock tower is brand new, whereas in the future the clock tower is like all damaged and graffitied or something, you And you could just play in Hill Valley in three different time zones. And you change time zones by powering up the plutonium and then hitting the Delorean. Then you get this cool like lighting effect. I think it'd be cool, man. And if this is just going to be like the two ramps in a bash toy of a game, you know, physical ball lock, some weird uh upper playfield with the clock tower. I mean, I don't think that would be as cool as like let's get to the next time zone. Let's and then let's do these modes and then let's get back to the future, you know, at the end. That'd be I think that'd be a dope I think that'd be dope. Let me know. Did you realize Eric Stoultz was supposed to be Marty or he was Marty and they were filming Back to the Future and they're like, "This kid ain't it." I was watching a video last night on another film that Eric Stoultz was in. Like I've never really heard of this kid in any other movie. Like he's not a household name because he was booted from Back to the Future and Michael J. Fox took time from Family Ties to go and film it. But Eric Stoultz was the kid from Mask. Remember that Mask? That movie with Sher Rocky Dennis, right? The kid with the the lionitis syndrome. Cool ass movie by the way. Like I was watching clips from it last night and like Sam Elliott plays uh Shar's love interest in that film and he's like a biker dude and he's like got black hair and he's still Sam Elliott. So awesome. Um, but yeah, the kid that played Rocky Dennis, the actor, was Eric Stoultz, who originally was in Back to the Future, until he got booted by Michael J. Fox, and they re-record everything, but I think Eric Stoultz did end up like you see the back of him in one scene or something. They didn't pull him out. So, what's up, Mr. Shane? Good morning. You're probably coming from Australia, right? AP forgot to hire J-pop. Please, no more J-pop garbage. What's What's Melvin's obsession? like he got Magic Girl working, but it's still not a good game. Uh he wanted to bring Raza out and like there's probably 300 people. Maybe there's 300 people that would want to get it, you know? What's up? What's up, Hilton? Uh I just opened a bunch of Pokemon cards and so I don't know what I'm doing with these things, but I spent 20 bucks at the Family Dollar. I want to go back and buy like $80 worth of this stuff and just do more unboxings. See, [laughter] see what kind of cards What am I gonna do with these cards? My kid doesn't even want these. I'll send them to Albert. Yeah, I'm in Maine until Saturday. I'm flying home. Perth, dude. Perth. Greatest town in the greatest state and the greatest country on the planet. I didn't quit. I'm just uh I put in 90 days, so I'm filling out the contract, which is basically the best time to be. Whoa. ABS currently active. All streams recordings will be shut down. No. What the hell? What did I hit? No, I don't want to shut down. I basically uh this is the best time of any job. Like you're leaving. You got another job lined up. Please don't. Don't. What? So I like like what are they going to do? Well, they mad and fire me. I'm already leaving. It's cool. We're just hanging out. I'm hang I'm doing I'm doing like the best work I've ever done here. I'm finishing strong, right? I don't just like I mean I'm lazy but I I do good work and yeah we're we're making we're making a difference so that's that's good. I would like to give myself a little bit of a sbatical if possible this summer. I think I can kind of end this job and then like delay the start of the next one so I can get some time off to go pursue my pinball career. Where's the next job? Oh, it's gonna be it looks like in Georgia. which is fun. So, little place down there called the Pinball Palace. I don't know if you've heard of it, but I'll be Pinball Palace adjacent. So, that'll be fun. Um, you know, it's still like a two and a half hour flight from Chicago. Not a big deal. Pop on down, do the same kind of stuff. Pop on back. At least the Carl Weathers's going to be better. It's snowing right now. It's 20 degrees. I won't be like across the street from Canada anymore. But this was fun. This was fun coming out here. Like you know who goes to who goes to Maine let alone like sees the entire state top to bottom. Like I've done that now. Beanie gate dude. Oh, you know what I was doing? You know what I was doing today? Wearing it inside. What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? Come at me, bro. That was the silliest thing, man. Okay, I'm gonna have so much more to talk about, too, pretty soon. Indigestion. I had a douo. Probably shouldn't have, but God was hitting good. It was hitting good. Um, yeah. So, it's fun. I I've I wish I could make some more content. I wish Jenga was awake right now because this is a good time to record. Poor guy. Uh, he just wants to talk about this Pokemon game. Donnie, I got the pro coming. They're sending me one of the first ones. Come on, dude. This is so wild. Like I got out here and then like Pokemon leaked and then Pokemon was revealed and then like I was on a list for an LE and then I didn't get an LE and then like I finded one later. Finded Perth is 41 today. Holy crap. I had a volcano pizza while I was out here. There's been a lot of experiences. I'm not coming back the same person. I'm I'm worldly and cultured now. Monica was working today. I don't I can't imagine there's still Beetlejuice decals to make. She goes in every day and is like cranking them out. So well done, man. I have so many Pokemons. The volcano pizza is a lie. I wish. So like I was looking longingly today on pinside at a posting for a portal pinball machine P3 like the whole thing. And I'm like, dude, I want to get one of those. I wish I Arcade had a portal. Hilton, like what's it going to take, man? When are you ready to go for the big time? Quit messing around and like get a freaking portal. It's game of the show. It' be game of the arcade, man. People don't even go to IO Arcade anymore. But if you had a freaking uh portal, dude, that they'd be dripping. The place would be dripping. You'd have you'd have so many tokens in your coin box, man. So, what do you think about the new IO lineup, dude? Hilton's getting every new game in the next two weeks. Uh what is it? Winchester, Beetlejuice, Pokemon, IO Arcade, Madison, Wisconsin. Cool place, great bar, a lot of arcade games as well. One giant bathroom for everybody. Just go on in there, grab a stall, and go crazy. But I was like, dude, I I want a I want a portal. I really want a portal. I don't want to spend $12,000 for it. I want to spend like four H. And that's the thing. Um, dude, uh, Jerry of Multimorphic probably has a dart board with my picture on it and but like I I love his game so much. Listen to your boss. No P3. I'm gonna I'm gonna sell my I'll All right. Uh, should I trade the Pokemon Le for a P3 and 27 modules? Two giant bathrooms. How come I only end up in the one? All right, I'll go try the other one next time I'm there. Dude, I was a cool place. I finally got to touch a P3. Still have not played one. The next time you see a P3, try to lift it up. Man, that thing, it feels like it's bolted to the ground. Is so heavy. It's incredibly heavy. Unreasonably heavy. Like, I don't think I could put that on an upper floor because it will probably fall through it. It's so heavy. Hilton, come on. You're not a real operator unless you're operating a P3. There was that one in Madison at the mall that had a uh a weird owl and it it played reasonably well the one time I was there. Oh, dude. Why is my battery draining so fast? Is it the cold Carl Weathers? My laptop battery is getting smoked. We've only been streaming for 35 minutes. This doesn't bode well, man. It I just took it off the charger. Maybe time to update this. This my energy saver just went on. It's listening to me. Well, I either need to plug this thing in or wrap this up. I always have fun playing P3, but I don't want to own one. I mean, I don't The problem is every time I would have enough money to buy one, there's going to be like six more things more awesome. They of course they don't earn. Dude, Enzo likes bearded. Thanks, buddy. I grew it myself. I never played one that didn't work properly. They cost a ton. They weigh a ton. I know. I still want one, though. No. Um. Oh, dude. The funniest thing. What's up, Brody? The funniest thing was, uh, Brody, do you want any Pokemon cards? I got a I bought a ton of them. I don't know what to do with them. You know, you want a home pin. Uh, no. God, dude. Somebody's trying to sell like a routed Spinal Tap. That game, That game's not even a game. It's not even functional, man. It's bad. It's bad. Um, Blues Brothers is more playable than Spinal Tap is. Yo, dude, I would I would just hate myself if I owned a Spinal Tap. I'd hate myself if I owned a Blues Brothers. It's not a game, it's a scam. Um, honestly, Thunderbirds for as bad as it is is like their best game. Ben and my next game looks freaking amazing. Best design spooky game yet. Whatever, dude. Whatever. Nobody's gonna Nobody's gonna want that one. They're gonna want the one after it. Not because of me, but just because of my next game. Uh yeah, somebody was saying, "Oh, dude, it was the uh you guys heard this, right? I did it. I think I'm gonna do this on Patreon or something. Uh or I did a live stream on Facebook, but I was riding test track and the guy at Epcot that was checking my seat belt saw me. I was wearing my Portal shirt and he's like, "Dude, is that a portal pinball shirt?" And I'm like, "Yeah, that's crazy that he recognized it." And he's like, "Yeah, my local arcade used to have one, but it never worked and they got rid of it." And I was like, "Stop it. Stop it." Unsolicited. Just like I was just getting a seat belt check by a ride operator and he's like, "Oh, Portal pinball. Yeah, that thing's a piece of crap." [laughter] Like, and I didn't put him up to it. God. Bye, Portal. Stop. Dude, tell Jerry to come on the show, man. I I had an interview booked with him and then he like cancels me last minute and then never reaches back out again. Comes over, shuts my machine off anytime I'm on it. I still And I still like it. And I still like it too. Monica, like, you know, if Monica didn't have enough reasons to divorce me, buying a P3 would push her over the edge for sure. She'd be like, "You know what? I I will I will go live poor in my own apartment. I can't share a house with that machine. It'll probably kill us all. It'll probably burn down the house." I've heard of them starting fires and then then they blame the owner. You looked at it wrong. You shouldn't play with happy fun ball. It'll generate a lot of heat. Oh, dude. This was fun. Did you guys like the AI photo? That was so funny. Look at this thing, man. Monica, check this out. Don Pinball podcast card game showdown. It took me It took me forever to make this because it kept like, "Oh, I like that coffee mug, DP." Uh, it kept saying it was too similar to copyrighted stuff and it's like, well, you generated it, dude. Why you Why are you even Why are you getting mad at me? What's over under portals sold? I mean, okay, how many how many multimorphic machine P3 machines exist? That's probably how many portals sold. If you have that game, you bought Portal. Yeah, absolutely. That or ABBA? I know, dude. ABBA is ABBA's amazing. Like ABBA's aba is a bad game, but it's like a good bad game. Like a good bad game is a is a game like you know. Yeah. Okay. I know it's not the best, but like I would I would actually low-key have it and I would have fun playing with it. Do not leave Super Happy Funball in the sun. That's because you keep on this pinball company. I don't I want to love it and they don't want it multimorphic. Okay. It's like a cat that acts like it wants to be petted, but then when you pet it, it just scratches the crap out of you. And it's like, I just I want to love you, but you keep hurting me. [laughter] Like, you you act like you want to be petted and then I reach down and then it's claws come out. I traveled around the country, three different places, just to go play Portal. All right. I wouldn't have gone to Fantastic New Robert Englunds. Cool show, but I got to play Portal. and and we were up late at night playing Portal and like the game had a problem and it was like just I posted the problem to like you know raise awareness and he yelled at me and like people come to me and they have questions and I'm like dude if you run into the multimmorphic people ask them this question for me and I'm like yes I will do that for you. So, I go up to them and I ask them questions and offer suggestions that I hear from other people that can't be there and then they like get mad at me. Raven, let's get in the top 10. Is Raven a good bad game? I don't have enough time on Raven. I'd like to see that game remade. American Pinball, remake Raven. I'd rather play Raven than Gold Wings. Gold Wings is it's Gold Wings is weird. They won't let you love them. I know. I got to plug my laptop in. So, if you're just joining us, this is what happened today. I I unboxed all these Pokemon cards. I don't know what to do with them now, but I spent $20 of my family's money of my my children could have used that for college, but instead I used them for uh to get the Hello. Okay, so Kofugriggas. Kofugriggas has a power spooky shot. At the bottom there, it says spooky shot. He must be a ghost type Pokemon. All right, that one's got a This foil Kofragus with the spooky shot has to go into a plastic container for sure. Raven slaps. Enzo, what doesn't slap, man? Enzo, what was the last game you sold? You were like, "Get this out of my house. I can't have it anymore." Was it X-Men? Was it Avatar? Was it Pulp Fiction? What game didn't slap to Enzo? That'd be a fun Dawn thing. Pick a game on pin side and get your followers to all rate of 10 just to cause chaos. That's all. Yeah, let's let's get Dawn banned for more stuff. Exact Exactly what I need. I I I'm not even like known on pin side. I There we go. We got him in there. Spooky shot. Oh, he's he's all messed up. Um, like I I don't like I feel like if I went on the Pokemon or the pinside forums, people would just be like, "You suck. I hate your voice. Your face is dumb." And I can hear that at home. I don't need to go on pinside to hear that. There we go. Keep that one. Yeah. Spooky shot, man. Spooky shot. This is fun. I'll get I'll get 10 of these cards. I'll put them in here. Um, I got my Diglett, my damage Diglett, my Spooky Shot, and the Donaf Donafan. I'm gonna go by Donafan now. That's cool. They're all foils, too. All right, that was worth 20 bucks. Um, I don't want to go in there and just sandbag everything on Pinside and then just get banned from Pinsside as I do like to go on there periodically, check the market. Alien, you didn't like Alien? Alien slaps, dude. of all the games. Like it's it's a cool moody atmospheric game that's not the best shooting game. Like the ramps aren't very satisfying because they're just like those 180s. But like I like playing it. There's a lot going on there. It's not a very simple like stripped down game. It's not Bario's barbecue challenge. Who's Barryo? Right. Nobody knows who Bario is. And then when you walk up to the game like Bario is not mentioned. You're not like battling Barriio. You're not playing as Barryo. Barryo's got a bobblehead back there. He's got two of his ex-wives on the sides of the cabinets. Um, but like, you know, you put this game out there and it's like, oh, Barry's barbecue challenge. Is he a barbecue guy? No. Nobody knows who Barry is. And you didn't theme the game about Barriio. You just put Bario on the backlass. Like, here's here's a overweight elderly guy. Like, what what happened to barbecue? And then like who are the burnt end boys? Who are all those characters on the playfield? What do they do? They're like randomly assigned. Are you battling them, collecting them, playing them? And that's just like the the game's concept, let alone like the layout. Houdini had to go. I don't I don't love Houdini. Just pick one game like Raven and we all hype it up one week. I mean, okay, in my abundance of free time, I'm going to go and troll Pinside by by promoting Raven. If if I have if I get my sbatical, we can go and troll Pinside and then we'll all get banned and then I won't be able to check the markets anymore or sell my stupid I do go on there and sell my stuff which is cool. These little magnetic things are all right. I think it was like 10 bucks or something for 10 of these and they work for the Pokemon cards. Yo, what set are you unboxing? Oh, Albert. Albert's here. Thank you, Albert. So, we unboxed um shiny sparks. Uh surging sparks, scarlet and violet. Scarlet and violet surging sparks. We did a bunch of these. I did four of them. I spent 20 bucks and uh here I got a foil razka. You're going to like this, Albert. Uh I unboxed one of these and I and I had something I had some cool ones. I had this foiled Diglett that I really liked and I left them on the table and then I left the Diet Coke out and the condensation got on the table, invaded the cards and like glued them to the table and like ruined a whole pack of them. But I do have this little foiled Diglett. I got a foiled Diglett. I got a Donafan. And I don't know what a Kofa Grugus is, but I got this Kofa Grugus and its power. It says spooky shot, which is like spooky pinball. So, and it's foil, too. So, I dig that. I don't know. It's worth nothing, most likely. Um, but I like it. And I want to put it on my apron, unless I do this key Cleon. Look at this guy. It's a freaking chameleon. I've never heard of these Pokemons before. I got an Exeutor and an execute. That's cool. They're like uh it's like collecting Monopoly things. All right. So, Albert, I need like for a Pokemon Le, what card should I go and buy so I can just put it on the apron and and like other people will be like, "Oh, whoa, look at that." You know what I wanted to do with my my John Wickle LE? I wanted to I found out like what what pistol like John Wick used in the game? I wanted to buy the actual handgun and have it and mount it to the plastic in the game so the game would actually have the actual handgun, you know, the model that John Wick used in the film. I pulled the big hit Pikachu first pack of Surging Sparks first pack and sold it for 400 bucks. Oh, really? No way. I pulled the big hit Pikachu. Now it's worth 1k. Magikarp, the blue one. Oh, I did get that. I got that blue fish guy. Albert, what the hell is a uh Azumaril? It looks like a blue Pikachu. I got a blue Pikachu. How much is all this worth? I spent 20 bucks. I should talk to Albert before I go buy Pokemon cards because maybe there's like better ones I should be buying. Fury Cutter. You want a Zangoose, dude? It's foil. I got a Zanus. I wasn't going to grade grade a 10, so sold it raw. Get the Magikart from Paula Evolved. It looks awesome. Okay, you guys need to text me this stuff because I'm not going to remember. Let me see. My battery is almost dead. 20 minutes. Okay, we'll see. This will probably It'll probably just cut out. I should go grab my my power cord. Most expensive card was a $1 holo. What? What's that $16 million one that that guy sold? Is it really worth that or was that just moneyaundering bull crap? Albert, what is this moral worth? It's slightly water damaged and has a torn back. $300. I'll sell it to you right now. Pinballs, dude. I can't wait to get back. I can't wait to get back. Um, March is coming soon. TPF is coming and I'm going to have a booth for some reason. And for some reason, we decided to go all out and we may have a tent there as well that may offer a special sensory experience um for a game that was just released. So, there's that. Let's not spend money on cards. Monica, these are investments. Albert, tell her get a PSA 10 to match your Ellie number. What number are you? Good question. I need to ask my distributor and see if uh see if we could find out what number I am. But that would be a good idea. Find out what Ellie number it is. Um and then get that matching character's card. Albert geniusness. That That's the Nova Scotian ingenuity right there. All right, we'll do that. We'll do that. I'll quit buying these from Family Dollar. I'll quit going to the Family Dollar. Um Albert, I was in Canada today. I was in Canada yesterday, too. I went to Pizza Pizza. I don't know if you saw my uh my post. Okay, I gotta find out what number I am, guys. Pinball. What do you think? Great year or greatest year? I was listening to Round Table and uh there's uh there's words that that uh GI Joe may be making an appearance, which would be freaking great. All right. All right. I gotta go check on a couple of things. Over with the work. I'll talk to you guys later. Albert, thanks for coming by. Um, I'll PSA 10 my whatever number and then that's what I'll put on there. I've got plenty of these little magnetic hard plastic cases and so so we'll make it happen, right? All right, guys. Be cool. Uh, we'll pop back on later. I'll be home in like two days. I'm so excited. Let's do like walkaround live streams and stuff. Pizza. Pizza is not horrible. Let me take you to Wisconsin. I'll give you some horrible pizza. Pizza. Pizza was all right. And And it was a volcano. It was a volcano. All right, guys. Be cool.
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high · Don explicitly states he's completing 90-day contract in Maine, relocating to Georgia near Pinball Palace, and planning sabbatical between jobs to pursue pinball

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    design_philosophy: Don conceptualizes Back to the Future pinball design with multiple time periods (1955, 1985, 2055) activated via plutonium charging mechanic and Delorean shot, with playfield state changes and LED effects tied to time jumps

    medium · Don outlines detailed game flow: charge plutonium, hit Delorean shot for wireform ricochet, LED effects for 88 mph flux capacitor, then transition to different time period with changed playfield state

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    content_signal: Don's stream includes unplanned Pokemon card unboxing as ancillary content tied to pinball machine acquisition, suggesting content diversification or cross-IP integration in pinball-focused channel

    medium · Don dedicates significant stream time to opening Pokemon cards despite not being core pinball content, mentions wanting to do more unboxings and create custom Pokemon card merch

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    venue_signal: Pinball Palace in Georgia positioned as secondary venue for Don's pinball activities; represents potential hub for tournament/casual play in Southeast market

    medium · Don references upcoming role 'Pinball Palace adjacent,' notes it's 2.5 hour flight from Chicago, suggests venue has significance for pinball community

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    rumor_hype: Don's enthusiastic engagement with Pokemon pinball acquisition and card merchandise reflects broader community excitement around Pokemon IP in pinball; card apron customization becoming collector practice

    high · Don invested in card protectors specifically to customize Pokemon pinball apron, spent $20+ on booster packs, and proposed making custom Don's Pinball Podcast Pokemon cards/stickers for promotional use

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    design_innovation: Don's Back to the Future concept suggests playfield redesign concept where time-period modes trigger physical playfield changes (clock tower pristine vs. damaged), similar to Venom 'rising riser' innovation

    low · Don mentions 'kind of like a Venom thing' where clock tower appearance changes between time periods (new vs. damaged/graffitied), implying dynamic playfield state transitions

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    business_signal: Don's assessment that Dutch Pinball (Back to the Future license holder) could be beaten to market by a faster-executing competitor suggests manufacturing capacity or design efficiency gaps in competitive landscape

    low · Don argues Dutch Pinball's 10-year, 1-game output record makes them vulnerable to faster competitors; characterizes licensing as non-exclusive advantage